Sheriffs see concealed gun application spike

SAN FRANCISCO -- A recent court ruling has apparently triggered a flood of concealed weapons permit applications in Californian, several sheriff offices reported.

Sheriffs in some politically conservative or rural counties have seen spikes in applications while other counties experienced smaller increases.

Demand is being driven by a federal appeals court ruling last month that made it easier for residents to obtain the hard-to-get permits. About 56,000 Californians have a concealed-weapons permit in a state of 38 million residents.

The 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 13, that law-abiding residents need only show a desire for self-defense rather than proving they were confronted with a "clear and present danger."

Since then, authorities in charge of issuing the permits say they have received numerous applications and fielded even more phone calls seeking permission to carry a concealed weapon (CCW) in California.

California's 58 county sheriffs and the state's police chiefs are authorized to grant the permits. Historically, municipal police chiefs have largely let sheriffs in their counties handle permitting, according to the California Police Chiefs Association.

Solano County Sheriff Thomas A. Ferrara was unavailable for comment on Wednesday. However, according to Dave Adams, owner and instructor of Blueridge Consulting & Firearms, one of Solano County's concealed weapon training providers, people seeking to obtain a concealed carry permit have been flocking to his classes.

Prior to the 9th Circuit's ruling, Adams said he held one class a month, consisting of 12 applicants. Now he is doing four classes a month, and things don't appear to be slowing down.

Given that a person has gone through the proper training, Adams said, "My opinion is, if you can legally own a firearm, you should be able to carry it."

Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern, head of the California State Sheriffs' Association, said application requests rose statewide in the days after the ruling. But Ahern said the association is not tracking the number of applications, and the state attorney general's office, citing law enforcement needs, declined to disclose how many applications have been received statewide since the ruling.

In Napa County, Undersheriff Jean Donaldson said there are some 384 active concealed weapons permits countywide, excluding the city of Napa, which issues its own. Napa city figures were not readily available Wednesday. Donaldson said there has been no significant uptick in requests since the ruling.

"People don't understand that ruling is not in effect," Donaldson said. "It's (likely to be) appealed, and it doesn't become law until then. It's the status quo until then."

Maybe in Napa but not everywhere.

Some counties have received far more applications than others. The Orange County Sheriff Department, for instance, said it has received a little more than 1,000 applications since the ruling, which is about double the applications it receives annually. Ventura, San Joaquin, San Diego and several other smaller and rural counties also reported surges of hundreds of applications, which cost between $150 and $300 depending on the issuing agency. Those three counties reported receiving hundreds of applications since Feb. 13, far exceeding the numbers of requests for permits each county receives annually.

Ventura and San Joaquin have joined Orange in changing their permitting policy to make it easier to obtain a license to carry a concealed gun. The San Diego County Sheriff's Department said it is accepting applications under the looser policy, but is awaiting a final ruling before reviewing the applications.

California is one of nine states that require government permission to carry a concealed weapon.

Until the 9th Circuit's three-judge ruling, state law required applicants to show "good cause" that they needed a permit because a "clear and present danger" existed. The court struck that requirement in its ruling, which is on hold after California Attorney General Kamala Harris petitioned the court to rehear the case with a special 11-judge panel.

The ruling arises from a nationwide National Rifle Association legal campaign to scale back gun-control laws that was launched after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 struck down Washington D.C.'s handgun ban and ruled that every law-abiding citizen has the right to possess a handgun in the home.